Method for controlling switching-oriented actions in a mobile radio telephone system and such a mobile radio telephone system

ABSTRACT

Respective mobile radio telephone-specific data for defining conditions (CD 1  . . . C 6 ) for a subscriber-dependent control of switching-oriented actions (ACT 1  . . . ACT 5 ) are established for one or more mobile subscribers in the mobile switching center (MSC) of the mobile radio-telephone system (PLMN) via the operation and maintenance sub-system (OMS). Given an incoming call (MTC) or an outgoing call (MOC) or given a message transmission (USSD), call-related data and/or subscriber-specific data are evaluated by the mobile switching center with reference to the conditions (CD 1  . . . CD 6 ) and, given a satisfied condition (CD 2 , CD 3 , CD 4 ), at least one action (ACT 2 , ACT 3 , ACT 4 ) is controlled subscriber-dependent. The advantage is that the routing of call connections, the acquisition of the call charges, etc., can be set and implemented subscriber-individually dependent on specific data (call-related and/or subscriber-specific) that is evaluated with reference to the conditions stored in the mobile switching center. What this means for the system operator of the respective mobile radio telephone system is that the operator can himself enter the criteria and parameters for the actions to be controlled into the mobile switching center subscriber-individually in a very flexible way via the operation and maintenance sub-system for individual mobile subscribers or for a plurality of mobile subscribers as well, and can in turn modify these at any time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a method for controlling switching-orientedactions in a mobile radio telephone system or, respectively, to such amobile radio telephone system.

As known, a mobile radio telephone system comprises at least oneradio-oriented sub-system with base station controllers and basestations that see to radio connections from and to mobile stations ofradio telephone subscribers via an air interface, comprises aswitching-oriented sub-system with subscriber data bases and mobileswitching centers for line-switched connections and comprises anoperating and maintenance sub-system for the administration and controlof the devices arranged distributed in the radio-oriented sub-system andin the switching-oriented sub-system - see, for example, “D1-DasMobilfunk-Netz der Deutschen Telekom MobilNet”, Unterrichtsblätter,Volume 49, Jun. 1996, pages 288 through 297,or “CME-A Total Solution forGSM Networks”, Ericsson Review, Vol. 68, No. 3, pp. 72 through 79. Theswitching-oriented actions such as, for example, the routing of callconnections, the acquisition of call charges, etc., are therebyuniformly initiated for all subscribers, usually on the basis of thesubscriber telephone number.

International application WO 95/20299 discloses a GSM mobileradiotelephone system that provides individual subscriber services suchas, for example, supplementary services for which the routing of anoutgoing call connection is decided by a central subscriber database(HLR) at the request of the switching center. For supplementary servicesrelating to incoming call connections, the subscriber data base suppliesadditional routing information at the request of the switchingequipment, whereby the subscriber database can distinguish between aplurality of routing alternatives according to one version of themethod.

The sole possibility of making switching-oriented actions such as, forexample, the routing of call connections flexibly available toindividual or selected radio telephone subscribers is comprised inmaking agreements between the operator of the mobile radio telephonesystem and the manufacture of a system component and of workingcomplicated modifications into the existing method execution. A flexibleadministration of existing or of new switching-oriented actionspotentially involves long waiting times and a considerable outlay ofprocessing capacity for the manufacturer of the system components. Thisresults therein that the realization of, in particular, new demands ofthe system operators in view of the control of switching-orientedactions such as, for example, the introduction of specific services forselected groups of subscribers and in view of flexibility and expansionof an existing mobile radio telephone system is not possible withoutadded outlay for the manufacturers of the system components.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to specify a method and a mobileradio telephone system of the species initially cited with which theswitching-oriented actions can be more flexibly controlled and adaptedto the demands of the system operators in view of administration andmodification.

In accord therewith, respective mobile radio telephone-specific data fordefining conditions for a subscriber-dependent control of the actionsare established in the mobile switching center for one or more radiotelephone subscribers via the operating and maintenance sub-system.Given an incoming or outgoing call or given a message transmission,call-related data and/or subscriber-specific data are evaluated by themobile switching center with respect to the conditions and, when thecondition is met, at least one action is controlled subscriber-dependentA mobile radio telephone system according to the invention has a mobileswitching center in which the mobile radio telephone-specific datarespectively offered via the operating and maintenance sub-system fordefining conditions for a subscriber-dependent control of the actionsare established. Over and above this, the mobile switching centercomprises a means that, given an incoming or outgoing call or given amessage transmission, respectively evaluates the call-related dataand/or the subscriber-specific data with reference to the conditionsand, when the condition is met, controls at least one actionsubscriber-dependent.

The advantage of the invention is that the routing of the callconnections, the acquisition of the call charges, etc., can besubscriber-individually set and implemented dependent on specific datacall-related and/or subscriber-specific—that are evaluated with respectto the conditions stored in the mobile switching center. For the systemoperator of the respective mobile radio telephone system, this meansthat he himself can very flexibly enter the criteria and parameters forthe actions to be controlled subscriber-individually into the mobileswitching center for individual radio telephone subscribers or for aplurality of radio telephone subscribers as well via the operating andmaintenance sub-system. Consultations between manufacturers of thesystem components and the system operator are no longer required.

It has proven beneficial to define the conditions for thesubscriber-dependent control of the actions either by an individualcall-related/subscriber-specific datum or by linking a plurality ofcall-related/subscriber-specific data. It is also advantageous when,given a plurality of conditions that have been met, differentswitching-oriented actions are controlled subscriber-dependent. Actionsare preferably provided with priority numbers that indicate a sequenceof the actions to be controlled given the parallel existence of aplurality of satisfied conditions. This leads to the fact that, given acall, a plurality of actions can be controlled subscriber-dependent andan advantageous sequence of the switching-oriented actions can therebybe achieved on the basis of the priority numbers allocated to theactions.

It is also advantageous when, given the parallel existence of aplurality of satisfied conditions, blocking information with whichrespectively at least one action is excluded from thesubscriber-dependent control by another action are employed. If, forexample, three actions would have to be implemented due to the satisfiedconditions, what the blocking information can achieve is that the secondaction precludes the first action, so that only the second action andthe third action are to be implemented. The blocking information alsoprovide the possibility that an action simultaneously excludes aplurality of other actions from the control.

According to a development of the invention, the nature of the call(outgoing call, incoming call, incoming call with call redirection) or,respectively, the nature of the message transmission (USSD containermessages) are valid, for example, as call-related data that areevaluated with reference to the conditions. According to anotherdevelopment of the invention, the international mobile subscriberidentity, the mobile subscriber category, the service class mark fortriggering services of an intelligent network and/or the auxiliaryservices that can be used by the subscriber are valid assubscriber-specific data.

Given an outgoing call, the subscriber telephone number selected by themobile subscriber or a numerical range of these subscriber telephonenumbers and, given an incoming call, the mobile subscriber roamingnumber assigned in the mobile radio telephone system or a numericalrange of these mobile subscriber roaming numbers are preferablyevaluated as mobile radio telephone-specific data. When the incomingcall is a matter of a call with call redirection to a destinationtelephone number, it has proven beneficial to also evaluate thedestination telephone number of a numerical range of these destinationtelephone numbers for the subscriber-dependent control of at least oneswitching-oriented action.

In addition to being directed to the routing of call connections and theacquisition of the call charges, the actions controllablesubscriber-dependently given satisfied conditions also relate to theauthorization or, respectively, suppression of services/performancefeatures, the blocking of calls or the suppression of a callredirection—potentially with a rerouting of the call to an announcementmeans for a specific announcement—, the insertion ofsubscriber-individual information for telephone number modification, thelistening-in on call connections, the re-evaluation of an abbreviatedcode selected by the subscriber into a telephone number having the usuallength. The subscriber-dependent control of an action is especiallyadvantageous wherein a call connection is routed to a service controlpoint of an intelligent network and the class of service character isthereby placed preceding the destination telephone number.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel,are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention,together with further objects and advantages, may best be understood byreference to the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in the several Figures of which like referencenumerals identify like elements and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a block circuit diagram of the basic structure of amobile radio telephone system;

FIG. 2 depicts a block circuit diagram of the establishment of mobileradio telephone-specific data via the operating and maintenancesub-system in a mobile switching center of the mobile radio telephonesystem;

FIG. 3 depicts examples for the definition of conditions for asubscriber-dependent control of switching-oriented actions on the basisof the mobile radio telephone-specific data;

FIG. 4 depicts a block circuit diagram of the method execution forsubscriber-dependent control of different actions in the mobileswitching center, and

FIG. 5 depicts an exclusion table for specific actions given parallelexistence of a plurality of satisfied conditions

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The mobile radio telephone system PLMN based, for example, on the GSMstandard comprises a plurality of basic elements that are composed of aradio-oriented sub-system BSS, of a switching-oriented sub-system SSSand of an operating and maintenance sub-system OMS. The radio-orientedsub-system BSS thereby undertakes the transmission and control functionsfor communication connections from or, respectively, to mobile stationsMS of mobile subscribers. The overall area of coverage of the mobileradio telephone system PLMN is subdivided into a great plurality ofradio cells wherein the connections from and to the mobile stations MScan be set up, maintained and cleared down via base stations BTS andconnections from the mobile stations MS to the base stations BTS of themobile radio telephone system via an air interface. One or more basestations BTS are serviced by one or more base station controllers BSC.The base stations BTS distributed over the entire coverage area of themobile radio telephone system from radio stations that offer allfunctions respectively required at the antenna locations. Usually, thebase station BTS services a radio cell that, however, can be dividedinto two or more sectored cells due to the employment of directionalantennas. The base station controllers BSC that assume the criticalcontrol functions in the radio processing form the intelligent part ofthe radio-oriented sub-system BSS. Over and above this, they form theinterface of the radio-oriented sub-system BSS to the switching-orientedsubsystem SSS in that they are connected to its mobile switching centersMSC.

The switching-oriented sub-system SSS usually comprises a plurality ofmobile switching centers MSC by which the mobile radiotelephone-specific switching functions for the call control arerespectively implemented. Each mobile switching center MSC can therebyswitch a connection between the mobile radio telephone system PLMN and afixed network, for example, the public switched telephone network PSTNor the integrated services telecommunication network ISDN, and anothermobile radio telephone system PLMN or between respectively two mobilestations MS within its own mobile radio telephone system PLMN. Given aconnection between two mobile stations MS within a mobile radiotelephone system, the connection is set up from one mobile switchingcenter to another mobile switching center or within the one and the samemobile switching center.

For the communication connections to other telecommunication systems,the switching-oriented sub-system SSS comprises at least one mobileswitching center that is referenced as access mobile switching centerGSMC. The access mobile switching center GMSC thus forms the interfacein the mobile radio telephone system PLMN for call respectively incomingfrom a different telecommunication system or, respectively, for callsrespectively outgoing to other telecommunication systems. One of severalsubscriber data bases, the visitor register VLR, is realized with aphysical system node with the respective mobile switching center MSC inorder to offer the subscriber data of the mobile subscribers currentlyresiding in a coverage area of the mobile switching center for the callhandling. Over and above this, there are further subscriber data basesin the switching-oriented sub-system SSS, whereof a central subscriberdata base, the home register HLR, permanently stores the subscriber dataof the mobile subscribers registered in the mobile radio telephonesystem and, over and above this, contains information about the accessauthorization of a mobile subscriber to the mobile radio telephonesystem, as well as about the visitor register VLR that is responsiblefor the mobile subscriber on the basis of his current location. Theoperating and maintenance sub-system OMS that comprises at least oneoperating and maintenance center OMC as system elements is connected tothe radio-oriented sub-system BSS and to the switching-orientedsub-system SSS. The operating and maintenance center OMC assumesoperating and maintenance functions such as, for example, the centraladministration of the network elements in the radio-oriented subsystemBSS and in the switching-oriented sub-system SSS, the communication tothese network elements via, for example, a data network as well as thecommunication between specific network elements of theswitching-oriented sub-system SSS and an overlapping operating system.Over and above this, the operating and maintenance subsystem OMSrepresents the interface between a mobile radio telephone systemoperator and the respective network elements of the radio-orientedsub-system BSS and of the switching-oriented sub-system SSS.

FIG. 2 shows the block circuit diagram of an operation and maintenancecenter OMC that, according to FIG. 1, comprises both interfaces to theradio-oriented sub-system BSS as well as to the switching-orientedsub-system with the mobile switching center MSC or, respectively, theaccess mobile switching center GMSC. The operation and maintenancecenter OMC comprises at least one operations processor OMPS for thecentral administration of the system elements of the switching-orientedsub-system and at least one operations processor OMPB for the centraladministration of the system elements of the radio-oriented sub-systemBSS. In addition to its operating and maintenance functions, theoperating processors OMPS and OMPB assume the communication to theindividual system elements—for example, via a packet-switched datanetwork (PSDN). Over and above this, the operation and maintenancecenter OMC has input devices OMT1, OMT2, OMT3 . . . , that form theinterface between the system operator OPPL of the mobile radio telephonesystem and the operations processors OMPS, OMPB and, thus, the systemelements of the radio-oriented oriented sub-system BSS and of theswitching-oriented sub-system. The input devices OMT1 . . . can, forexample, be standard work station computers (workstations) that arerealized with the functions of a graphic user interface and withalphanumerical command input. The input devices OMT1 . . . arerespectively connected to the operating processors OMPS, OMPB. Themobile switching center MSC (or, respectively, GMSC) of theswitching-oriented sub-system is connected to the operations processorOMPS of the operation and maintenance center OMC, this mobile switchingcenter MSC (or, respectively, GMSC) being responsible in the presentexample for the call handling given incoming or outgoing calls or forthe message transition given employment of container messages (USSD,unstructured supplementary services data) dependent on the location ofthe mobile subscriber.

The mobile switching center MSC comprises a subscriber-dependentprocessing and feature control SDFC for the subscriber-dependent controlof the switching-oriented actions that, for example, are composed of thesubscriber-dependent acquisition of the call charges or, for example, ofthe subscriber-dependent authorization or, respectively, suppression ofservices and/or performance features (in this respect see the examplesdescribed in detail in FIG. 4). Mobile radio telephone-specific data MDfor one or more mobile subscribers are offered via the operation andmaintenance sub-system, preferably via the operation and maintenancecenter OMC, and are established for the definition of conditions for thesubscriber-dependent control of the switching-oriented actions in themobile switching center MSC. Thus, the mobile radio telephone-specificdata MD for the respective mobile subscriber are input (1) into theinput devices OMT1 . . . , for example subscriber-individually by thesystem operator OPPL of the mobile radio telephone system via MMLcommands (man machine language commands) and are transmitted therefromto the operations processor OMPS (2). The mobile radiotelephone-specific data MD proceed (3) to the subscriber-dependentprocessing and feature control SDFC via the interfaces existing betweenthe operation and maintenance center OMC and the mobile switchingcenters. All mobile switching centers MSC in the mobile radio telephonesystem are preferably respectively equipped with a subscriber-dependentprocessing and feature control SDFC in order to be able to effect thesubscriber-dependent control of the switching-oriented actionsindependently of the momentary location of the mobile subscriber.Conditions—usually a plurality of conditions—for thesubscriber-dependent control of the switching-oriented actions in themobile switching center MSC are defined and established on the basis ofthe mobile radio telephone-specific data MD arriving via the operationand maintenance sub-system. Given a call and/or call-related data forthe case of a message transmission and/or subscriber-specific data areevaluated by the subscriber-dependent feature control SDFC in view ofthe conditions and, given a met condition or, respectively, metconditions, one or more actions are subsequently specifically controlledfor the mobile subscriber affected by the call or, respectively, by themessage transmission.

As in every call handling or, respectively, message transmission, thesubscriber data of the mobile subscriber that are stored for theduration of the subscriber's location in the coverage area of thevisitor register are interrogated. Included among the subscriber dataare, for example, the international mobile subscriber identifier (IMSI),the services and supplementary services that the mobile subscriber canuse, the location data in the form of a location area identify,call-related data such as, for example, call redirection data given acall incoming in the mobile radio telephone system with a callforwarding set for the mobile subscriber to a specific destinationtelephone number, as well as security data with, for example, anencryption code (Kc). Given, for example, an incoming call (mobileterminated call), the visitor register assigns a mobile subscriberroaming number (MSRN) at the request of the home register in order toset up the call connection to the mobile switching center from which theline-switch connection is to be setup to the called mobile subscriberand in order to address the subscriber data of the mobile subscriber inthe respective visitor register VLR. Over and above this, the mobilesubscriber can be identified on the basis of his subscribe categorythat, for example, contains particulars about a possibleactivation/deactivation of the listening-in of the call connection inthe mobile radio telephone system or particulars about the nature of thecharge calculating, for example by a debit center. The data entered forthe subscriber also include a service class mark (SCM) for triggeringservices of an intelligent network. One or more service control points(SCP) in the intelligent network respectively form a network node to thecentral controller of services in interaction with service switchingpoints (SSP). The service control point thereby evaluates inquiries ofthe service switching points, determines destination telephone numbersand sets up the call connections to the interface between mobileswitching center MSC and service control point (SCP). The service classmark SCM can thereby be composed of a telephone number that is assignedin the numerical range limited for assigning telephone numbers.

On the basis of examples, FIG. 3 shows the definition of variousconditions for the subscriber-dependent control of switching-orientedactions by the respective mobile switching center or, respectively, thesubscriber-dependent feature control in the mobile switching center. Themobile radio telephone-specific data and the conditions derivedtherefrom are preferably deposited in a subscriber data base of themobile switching center for the mobile subscriber or subscribers. In theillustrated examples—a total of six examples—at least two mobile radiotelephone-specific input data are respectively operated to form acondition. Fundamentally, however, it is also possible that a conditionis to be attributed only to a single mobile radio telephone-specificinput datum. The mobile radio telephone-specific data recited in theexamples are not definitive but merely form examples of the possibleparameters from which subscriber-dependent conditions are derived forthe control of switching-oriented actions. Both subscriber-specific datasuch as, for example, the international mobile subscriber identity IMSI,the service class mark SCM, the subscriber category CAT, as well ascall-related data such as, for example, the call type CTY and/ornumerical ranges COD of telephone numbers can thereby be employed asmobile radio telephone-specific input data. In addition to the mobileradio-telephone-specific data that have been cited and that are shown inthe examples of FIG. 3, for example, the length of the telephonenumber—for example, the location telephone number given an incoming callor the destination telephone number giving an outgoing call with callredirection or the telephone number selected given an outgoing call—oran information about the registration of the mobile subscriber in thesubscriber's mobile radio telephone system or in some othercommunication system—for example, in another mobile radio telephonesystem—or an indication about the source of the subscriber telephonenumber given an incoming call—for example, telephone number receivedfrom the subscriber or from a service control point of the intelligentnetwork or by reinterpretation of an abbreviated code dialed by thesubscriber—can be interpreted by the mobile switching center.

In the illustrated examples, thus, a condition CD1 derives from themobile radio telephone-specific data MD1 when it is a matter of anoutgoing call CTY=MOC (mobile originated call) with an internationalmobile subscriber identifier IMSI=xx and a service class mark SCM=yy. Afurther example supplies a condition CD2 on the basis of mobile radiotelephone-specific data MD2 that are composed of the call type CTY=MOC,of the international mobile subscriber identifier IMSI=xx, of asubscriber category CAT=zzz and of a numerical range COD=122 for theselected telephone number. A condition CD3 is defined by the mobileradio telephone-specific data MD3 wherein the call type CTY=MOC isAND-operated with the numerical range COD=122. Likewise, a furthercondition CD4 derives from the AND-operation of only second mobile radiotelephone-specific data MD4 that are composed of the call type CTY=MOCand of the numerical range of the selected telephone number COD=12. Acondition CD5 derives from mobile radio telephone-specific data MD5 thatcontain the call type CTY=MTC (radio mobile terminated call), theinternational mobile subscriber identifier IMSI=xx and a service classmark SCM=yyy as parameters for the subscriber-dependent condition. Thelast example refers to a condition CD6 that derives from mobile radiotelephone-specific data MD6 composed of the call type CTY=CF (callforwarding) of the international mobile subscriber identifier IMSI=xxand of the numerical range COD=00bb from which the call destination canbe read on the basis of the call forwarding set for the mobilesubscriber given the incoming call. The designations xx, yy, zzz and bbmerely represent space holders for the digits of the call numbers to betaken into consideration or for parts of the service class mark or,respectively, of the subscriber category.

In a block circuit diagram with flow chart, FIG. 4 shows the methodexecution for the subscriber-dependent control of differentswitching-oriented actions by the subscriber-dependent feature controlof the mobile switching center MSC (or, respectively, GMSC). The accessmobile switching center (GMSC) is inserted into the call handling whenit is a matter of an incoming call MTC from, for example, the publicswitched telephone network—potentially supplemented by a call forwardingCF. In the cases of an outgoing call MOC, the mobile switching centerMSC currently responsible for the calling mobile subscriber due to hislocation is responsible for the call handling and the control of theswitching-oriented actions to be subscriber-individually implemented.When is matter of a call CA of the above-described type or of a messagetransmission USSD wherein the information are transmitted in the form ofcontainer messages, the mobile switching center MSC produces the callconnection to the mobile subscriber affected by the call CA or,respectively, the message transmission USSD. Dependent on the incomingcall information (4) or, respectively, message information, the mobileswitching center MSC thereby interrogates the appertaining visitorregister VLR (5) in order to obtain (6) the subscriber data stored forthe mobile subscriber.

From the call-related data and the subscriber-specific data, the mobileswitching center MSC, for example on the basis of thesubscriber-dependent feature control SDFC, determines whether theconditions defined for the subscriber-dependent control of theswitching-oriented actions are satisfied. To this end, the call-relateddata and/or the subscriber-specific data are previously evaluated by thesubscriber-dependent feature control with reference to the conditions.To this end, FIG. 4 shows three exemplary embodiments of thesubscriber-dependent control of different actions corresponding to themobile radio telephone-specific input data given an incoming call or,respectively, given an outgoing call. The central component part of themethod execution is an interrogation by the subscriber-dependent featurecontrol SDFC as to whether one of the conditions CD1 . . . CD6 describedin FIG. 3 applies and, thus, at least one switching-oriented action iscontrolled subscriber-dependent. In the first example (7), it is amatter of an outgoing call MOC that is initiated by a mobile subscriberSS [sic]. The mobile subscriber having the international mobilesubscriber identifiers IMSI=xx [sic] and for subscriber category CAT=zzzthereby calls a telephone number that begins with the numerical range122. By checking the conditions that have been established, thesubscriber-dependent feature control SDFC recognizes that a plurality ofconditions CD2, CD3 and CD4 are satisfied in parallel (8)—also see FIG.3. Advantageously, each of the conditions CD2 . . . CD4 leads to adifferent switching-oriented action that is to be specificallyimplemented for the calling mobile subscriber. In a second example (7′),the call is likewise a matter of an outgoing call MOC, whereby themobile subscriber SS having the international mobile subscriberidentifier IMSI=xx and a different subscriber category CAT=fff selects atelephone number that begins with the numerical range 123. Over andabove this, a service class mark SCM=yyy is entered in the visitorregister for this mobile subscriber. A check of the data for the presentoutgoing call in view of the conditions individually established for oneor more subscribers yields as a result that the condition CD1 and thecondition CD4 are met (8′).

A further example (7″) relates to an incoming call MTC that is directedto a mobile subscriber having the international mobile subscriberidentifier IMSI=xx and the service class mark SCM=yy. Over and abovethis, a call forwarding CF to a call destination has been set for thecalled mobile subscriber, this being defined by the country identifierCC=bb. The evaluation of the subscriber-specific and/or of thecall-related data with reference to the conditions shows that thecondition CD5 and the condition CD6 are met (8″).

Let it be assumed for all examples that different switching-orientedactions are controlled by the mobile switching center MSC due to thesatisfied conditions. A switching-oriented action ACT1 that is composedof the routing of the call connection to a specific call destinationthus derives from the satisfied condition CD1. This has the advantagethat, given ambiguous telephone numbers, different destinations can beselected dependent on the length of the telephone numbers, recognizableon the basis of the respective numerical range of the telephone number.This can be applied to all types of calls, whether incoming or outgoingcall or incoming call with call forwarding. The presence of theconditions CD2 leads to a corresponding switching-oriented action ACT2wherein the call charges for the call are acquired subscriber-dependentin one or more specific zones. The zoning for the charge acquisitionthus ensues dependent on the international mobile subscriber identifierIMSI of the subscriber. What this effects is that calls are differentlybilled subscriber-dependently according to the mobile subscriberidentifier.

The conditions CD3 leads to a switching-oriented action ACT3 wherein thecall is routed to an announcement means that makes selectedannouncements available, for example in different languages as well. Thecondition CD4 leads to a switching-oriented action ACT4 that is composedof the current element of the call connection. When conditions CD5 issatisfied, the control of the switching-oriented action ACT5 ensuessubscriber-dependent, the call connection being triggered such therewiththat a branch to a service control point of an intelligent network IN isimplemented for using additional services and/or performance features.When condition C06 is satisfied, the control of the switching-orientedaction ACT1 likewise ensues subscriber-dependent.

The actions indicated in the examples are not definitive, but only aselection of possible switching-oriented functions that can beimplemented flexibly dependent on the conditions established for themobile subscriber. Due to the establishment of mobile radiotelephone-specific data for determining the conditions for thesubscriber-dependent control of switching-oriented actions, the systemoperator of the mobile radio telephone system has the possibility ofhimself flexibly initiating the specific switching-oriented actions forthe respective mobile subscribers and of modifying them at any time.When a plurality of conditions are established in parallel in the mobileswitching center and when these conditions—as in the presentexample—lead to different actions, then the sequence of the actions tobe implemented can be potentially significant. A priority number thatdefines a sequence of the switching-oriented actions to be controlledcan therefore be allocated to every action. Thus, for example, apriority number PR1 is allocated to the switching-oriented action ACT5,a priority number PR2 is allocated to the switching-oriented action ACT4and a priority number PR3 is allocated to the switching-oriented actionACT1. This means that, when a plurality of conditions are simultaneouslymet, the action ACT5 is to be implemented before the action ACT4 and the[...] ACT4 is to be respectively implemented before the action ACT1. Inthe present example, the two switching-oriented actions ACT2 and ACT3have no priority numbers allocated to them. Additionally oralternatively to assigning priority numbers, it can be indicated in atable given parallel existence of a plurality of satisfied conditionsthat a specific action precludes at least one further action. When, forexample, the conditions for the switching-oriented actions ACT1 and ACT3apply in parallel, the exclusion of action ACT3 by the action ACT2 canbe effected by allocation of a blocking information (see FIG. 5).

Since all switching-oriented actions controllable subscriber-dependentcannot be shown for reasons of presentation, let the following actionsalso be cited. Dependent only on the international mobile subscriberidentifier IMSI or, respectively, dependent on a numerical range of themobile subscriber identifiers ISMI, an outgoing call can be blocked bysimple cleardown or by rerouting to an announcement. The numerical rangeof the mobile subscriber identifiers IMSI can, for example, be limitedto digits of the country code and/or of the national code. The messagetransition with container messages USSD can likewise be blocked forcertain subscribers, recognizable on the basis of a numerical range ofthe mobile subscriber numbers ISMI. Incoming calls for the mobilesubscriber can likewise be cleardown or rerouted to an announcementdependent on the mobile subscriber numbers of the called mobilesubscriber or, respectively, the numerical range thereof. A furthercriterion for blocking or rerouting the call is composed, for example,of the location of the called mobile subscriber, recognizable on thebasis of the mobile subscriber roaming number (MSRN). Dependent on themobile subscriber identifier of the called mobile subscriber, callreroutings given incoming calls can be suppressed, whereby a distinctioncan be made between a call rerouting and the access mobile switchingcenter (GMSC) and the call rerouting in the visited mobile switchingcenter (visited MSC). Likewise, the call rerouting can be suppresseddependent on the mobile subscriber identifiers of the called mobilesubscriber and dependent on the destination telephone number given acall rerouting or, respectively, dependent on numerical ranges of thedestination telephone number. The call rerouting to specific calldestinations, recognizable, for example, on the basis of the countrycodes of specific countries, can also be suppressed and be accompaniedby a rerouting to an announcement or by the cleardown of the call. Overand above this, the assigning of the service class marks SCM isindependent of the respective numbering plan, whereby the service classmark SCM was usually to be established as a number in the numberconverter of the mobile switching center. This has the advantage thatthe numerical ranges that were previously occupied by the service classmarks SCM are free for some other use. Likewise, a zoning on the basisof the service class marks no longer need be implemented for feecalculation.

As a result of the subscriber-individual establishment of the mobileradio telephone-specific data that define conditions for thesubscriber-dependent control of switching-oriented actions, there is thepossibility of assigning abbreviated codes in a mobile radio telephonesystem that begin with the same digits as a subscriber telephone numberof a mobile subscriber, as long as it is assured that the abbreviatedcode and the subscriber telephone number differ in terms of the lengthof the telephone number. The invention also makes it possible to employthe abbreviated codes for cell-related or subscriber-related routing ofcall connections dependent on the mobile subscriber identifier IMSI.Another switching-oriented action is composed in the specific routing ofcall connections by modification of the telephone number, in thatsubscriber-specific information are inserted into the modified telephonenumber. These subscriber-specific information can be composed, forexample, of the location area code (cell ID), of the location telephonenumber, of the selected subscriber telephone number, of the length ofthe selected telephone number and/or of the national code of thesubscriber.

FIG. 5 shows a table TEX that, for example, is implemented in thecontrol means of the respective mobile switching center. The table TEXserves for the exclusion of specific actions by other actions, wherebyat least one further action is blocked by an action. For this reason,blocking information are assigned to the switching-oriented actions,what further actions are excluded by them proceeding therefrom. Ablocking information EXC3 thus defines that the action ACT2 excludes theaction ACT3 given parallel existence of the actions ACT2 and ACT3. Ablocking information EXC4 effects the exclusion of the action ACT4 bythe action ACT3. A blocking information EXC5 causes that a plurality ofactions, namely the actions ACT3 and ACT5, are simultaneously excludedby the action ACT1. What this means for the examples recited in FIG. 4is that the actions ACT2, ACT3 and ACT4 to be implemented due to thesatisfied condition [...] only the action ACT2 is implemented. It alsoapplies to the actions ACT5 and ACT1 implementable in parallel that onlythe latter action ACT1 is possible. By contrast thereto, the two actionsACT1 and ACT4 to be implemented due to the conditions satisfied inparallel are unaffected by the exclusion table TEX, so that bothactions—potentially taking-allocated priority numbers intoconsideration—respectively involve a switching-oriented action.

The invention is not limited to the particular details of the method andapparatus depicted and other modifications and applications arecontemplated. Certain other changes may be made in the above describedmethod and apparatus without departing from the true spirit and scope ofthe invention herein involved. It is intended, therefore, that thesubject matter in the above depiction shall be interpreted asillustrative and not in a limiting sense.

1. A method for controlling switching-oriented actions in a mobile radiotelephone system having at least one radio-oriented sub-system with basestation controllers and base stations for radio connections from and tomobile stations of mobile subscribers, having a switching-orientedsub-system with subscriber data bases and mobile switching centers forline-switched connections and having an operation and maintenancesub-system, the operation and maintenance sub-system having at least oneoperation and maintenance center for administration and control ofdevices provided in the radio-oriented sub-system and in theswitching-oriented sub-system, comprising: establishing in a mobileswitching center respective mobile radio telephone-specific data fordefining conditions for a subscriber-contended control of actions in amobile switching center, the data being establishedsubscriber-individually for at least one mobile subscriber via theoperation and maintenance sub-system; and respectively evaluating in themobile switching center, given one of an incoming calls an outgoing callor a message transmission at least one of call-related data andsubscriber specific data with respect to the conditions and, given asatisfied condition, controlling at least one actionsubscriber-dependent.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theconditions for the subscriber-dependent control of the actions arerespectively defined by one of a single,call-related/subscriber-specific datum and an operation of a pluralityof call-related/subscriber-specific data.
 3. The method according toclaim 2, wherein operation of the call-related/subscriber specific dataensues via at least one of a logical AND operation and a logical ORoperation.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, given aplurality of satisfied conditions, different actions are controlledsubscriber-dependent.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, giventhe parallel existence of a plurality of satisfied conditions, theactions are provided with priority numbers with which is defined asequence of the actions to be controlled.
 6. The method according toclaim 4, wherein, given parallel existence of a plurality of satisfiedconditions, blocking information is used to exclude a respective actionof said actions from the control by another action of said actions. 7.The method according to claim 6, wherein the blocking information isentered into a table that is located in one of the mobile switchingcenter and a subscriber data base of the mobile switching center.
 8. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein one of a type of call or type ofmessage transmission is evaluated as call-related data.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein one of an international mobile subscriberidentifier, a service class mark for triggering services of anintelligent network, a mobile subscriber category or supplementaryservices usable by the mobile subscriber is evaluated assubscriber-specific data.
 10. The method according to claim 1, whereingiven an outgoing call, a subscriber telephone number selected by themobile subscriber or a numerical range of the selected subscribertelephone number is evaluated and, wherein the location telephone numberor a numerical range of the location telephone number assigned in themobile radio telephone system, respectively, is evaluated given theincoming call.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein, given anincoming call with call forwarding to a destination telephone number,the destination telephone number or a numerical range of the destinationtelephone number is evaluated.
 12. The method according to claim 1,wherein one of blocking of a call, suppression of a call forwarding, andblocking of message transmission is controlled subscriber-dependent asan action.
 13. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of cleardownof a call and routing of a call to an announcement device are controlledsubscriber-dependent as actions.
 14. The method according to claim 1,wherein one of routing of a call connection to a specific destinationand acquisition of call charges in a specific charge zone are controlledsubscriber-dependent as actions.
 15. The method according to claim 1,wherein routing of a call connection to a service control point of anintelligent network is controlled subscriber-dependent as an action, anda service class mark is thereby set preceding a destination telephonenumber.
 16. The method according to claim 1, wherein a telephone numbermodification by insertion of subscriber-individual information into oneof a selected telephone number given an outgoing call, a locationtelephone number given an incoming call or a destination telephonenumber given an incoming call with call forwarding is controlledsubscriber-dependent as an action.
 17. The method according to claim 1,wherein an eavesdropping of a call connection or an authorization or,respectively, suppression of services/performance features arecontrolled subscriber-dependent as actions.
 18. The method according toclaim 1, wherein a conversion of an abbreviated code selected by thesubscriber into a telephone number is controlled subscriber-dependent asan action.
 19. A mobile radio telephone system for controllingswitching-oriented actions, comprising: at least one radio-orientedsub-system that has base station controllers and base stations for radioconnections from and to mobile stations of mobile subscribers; aswitching-oriented sub-system that has subscriber data bases and mobileswitching centers for line-switched connections, an operation andmaintenance sub-system having at least one operation and maintenancecenter for administration and control of devices provided in theradio-oriented sub-system and in the switching-oriented sub-system;mobile radio telephone-specific data for defining conditions for asubscriber-dependent control of the actions, the mobile radio telephonespecific data being subscriber-individually set -up for at least onemobile subscriber in the mobile switching center via the operation andmaintenance sub-system, the mobile switching center having a devicethat, given an incoming call or an outgoing call or given a messagetransmission, respectively evaluates at least one of call-related dataand subscriber-specific data with reference to the conditions and, givena satisfied condition, controls at least one actionsubscriber-dependent.